A friend of mine who grew up in Turkey asked me to give new life to strings of coral she had inherited from her mother. The beads are stunning. You can still pick up bits and pieces within that show the natural coral patterns. This version was completely taken apart, so the only thing left is the picture. She decided that she wanted 3 simple long strands. See Coral Necklace: The Inheritance, for the final version she now wears.

In this version, I created a multi-strand necklace that starts at the collar and graduates the 5 strands. I used diamond-shaped, flat connectors to graduate the strands. The color tones I brought are from jewelry I saw all over India; including some coral tube beads I inherited from my mother-in-law who got them in India where she grew up. The neckalce is made from a combination of coral, orange agate, rust-colored jasper coins and carnelian (a very popular Indian stone seen throughout the inlays at the Taj Mahal), gold and gold vermeil.